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What's the price of petrol?

What's the price of petrol?

Petrol for our cars is made from crude oil. The price of crude oil is constantly changing. This affects the price of petrol at the pump. Listen to Natasha Thiele explain how and why the price of petrol keeps changing. This clip provides context for decimal multiplication.

Things to think about

1

Before viewing

While travelling around have you taken notice of the price of petrol sold at fuel stations? How is it priced? How do prices of gas, petrol and diesel compare? What do your parents pay to fill their tank with fuel?

2

As you view

Natasha Thiele states that the price of petrol could hit $1.50 per litre. If your car fuel gauge shows empty and the tank holds 70 litres of fuel how much would it cost to fill? At the low point of the 'weekly fuel cycle' petrol may be $1.37 per litre. How much could you save?

3

After viewing

What if a petrol station sells fuel for $1.48 per litre? If your car took 50 litres to fill, then it would cost 1.48 x 50 = $74. How much would it cost if you had a 4c/l discount? How much would you save? The answers are included in the following: $70.00, $72.00, $2, $2.40.

4

Next steps

How much does your family spend on fuel in one year? If fuel costs $1.41 per litre and you use 65 litres per week then over one year this would mean that you would spend 1.41 x 65 x 52 = $4765.80! Ask mum or dad to give you their fuel receipts for a month and estimate how much they spend on fuel for a year.

Transcript

00:00:00:00NATHAN BAZLEY:If your parents drive a car you've probably heard them talk about petrol prices, which are constantly changing. At the moment, petrol's the highest it's been in around 2.5 years and many people aren't happy. So why is petrol so expensive right now? Tash has the story.00:00:20:13NATASHA THIELE:Buying fuel is one of the biggest costs for people who own a car. We need to fill up to get to places like school or work. But at the moment, petrol prices are going up and up. Unleaded fuel recently hit around the $1.50 mark. Many drivers think that's overpriced already. But some experts reckon it could go up by even more over the next four weeks. So why are the prices going up? For the answer let's head overseas. We've been telling you about the political problems in countries like Egypt and Libya in the Middle East. There's been a lot of protesting going on, because people have been unhappy with the way their country's being run. Most of the world's oil reserves are in the Middle East and millions of barrels of oil are produced in the region every day. When there's instability in oil-producing countries, it makes the market a little nervous. That means the price of oil goes up, because investors are worried about there being not enough oil to go around, so it's all about supply and demand. Expensive petrol doesn't just hit the pockets of drivers. It can impact other parts of our economy, too. If people are spending more money on petrol, retailers suffer because we're not spending as much at the shops. Then there are the delivery trucks that need to take goods like fruit and veg to the retailers, so we could see a jump in the price of food. So what can people do about high petrol prices? In the past, drivers have protested when they felt the petrol companies and governments were taking too much profit. In Europe, truckies even blocked fuel depots so the petrol companies couldn't deliver. It was controversial at the time because it caused chaos, with drivers panic buying at petrol stations. But it succeeded in demonstrating that people would be prepared to fight if they felt they were being ripped off. But there are less radical ways to cope with the high cost of petrol, by simply using less of it. You can do things like walk to school, use a bike or take public transport. Think twice about using the air conditioner because that eats up petrol, too. And you can make sure you fill up your car on cheap petrol days. You see, petrol prices in cities across the country are constantly changing. This is what's called a 'weekly fuel cycle'. You can find out what the cheapest day is to fill up in your state. It used to be on Wednesday, but now it's at the end of the week in most places. Buying fuel on a cheap day and in a cheap area could save you as much as 20 cents a litre. It's doesn't sound like much, but when you multiply it by the amount of petrol you go through in a year, it soon adds up.

For teachers

Year 6 Mathematics Strand: Number and AlgebraSubstrand: Fractions and decimalsContent code: ACMNA129Description: Multiply decimals by whole numbers and perform divisions by non-zero whole numbers where the results are terminating decimals, with and without digital technologies

What's the price of petrol?

Overview

Petrol for our cars is made from crude oil. The price of crude oil is constantly changing. This affects the price of petrol at the pump. Listen to Natasha Thiele explain how and why the price of petrol keeps changing. This clip provides context for decimal multiplication.

Things to think about

1

Before viewing

While travelling around have you taken notice of the price of petrol sold at fuel stations? How is it priced? How do prices of gas, petrol and diesel compare? What do your parents pay to fill their tank with fuel?

2

As you view

Natasha Thiele states that the price of petrol could hit $1.50 per litre. If your car fuel gauge shows empty and the tank holds 70 litres of fuel how much would it cost to fill? At the low point of the 'weekly fuel cycle' petrol may be $1.37 per litre. How much could you save?

3

After viewing

What if a petrol station sells fuel for $1.48 per litre? If your car took 50 litres to fill, then it would cost 1.48 x 50 = $74. How much would it cost if you had a 4c/l discount? How much would you save? The answers are included in the following: $70.00, $72.00, $2, $2.40.

4

Next steps

How much does your family spend on fuel in one year? If fuel costs $1.41 per litre and you use 65 litres per week then over one year this would mean that you would spend 1.41 x 65 x 52 = $4765.80! Ask mum or dad to give you their fuel receipts for a month and estimate how much they spend on fuel for a year.

Transcript

00:00:00:00NATHAN BAZLEY:If your parents drive a car you've probably heard them talk about petrol prices, which are constantly changing. At the moment, petrol's the highest it's been in around 2.5 years and many people aren't happy. So why is petrol so expensive right now? Tash has the story.00:00:20:13NATASHA THIELE:Buying fuel is one of the biggest costs for people who own a car. We need to fill up to get to places like school or work. But at the moment, petrol prices are going up and up. Unleaded fuel recently hit around the $1.50 mark. Many drivers think that's overpriced already. But some experts reckon it could go up by even more over the next four weeks. So why are the prices going up? For the answer let's head overseas. We've been telling you about the political problems in countries like Egypt and Libya in the Middle East. There's been a lot of protesting going on, because people have been unhappy with the way their country's being run. Most of the world's oil reserves are in the Middle East and millions of barrels of oil are produced in the region every day. When there's instability in oil-producing countries, it makes the market a little nervous. That means the price of oil goes up, because investors are worried about there being not enough oil to go around, so it's all about supply and demand. Expensive petrol doesn't just hit the pockets of drivers. It can impact other parts of our economy, too. If people are spending more money on petrol, retailers suffer because we're not spending as much at the shops. Then there are the delivery trucks that need to take goods like fruit and veg to the retailers, so we could see a jump in the price of food. So what can people do about high petrol prices? In the past, drivers have protested when they felt the petrol companies and governments were taking too much profit. In Europe, truckies even blocked fuel depots so the petrol companies couldn't deliver. It was controversial at the time because it caused chaos, with drivers panic buying at petrol stations. But it succeeded in demonstrating that people would be prepared to fight if they felt they were being ripped off. But there are less radical ways to cope with the high cost of petrol, by simply using less of it. You can do things like walk to school, use a bike or take public transport. Think twice about using the air conditioner because that eats up petrol, too. And you can make sure you fill up your car on cheap petrol days. You see, petrol prices in cities across the country are constantly changing. This is what's called a 'weekly fuel cycle'. You can find out what the cheapest day is to fill up in your state. It used to be on Wednesday, but now it's at the end of the week in most places. Buying fuel on a cheap day and in a cheap area could save you as much as 20 cents a litre. It's doesn't sound like much, but when you multiply it by the amount of petrol you go through in a year, it soon adds up.

For teachers

Mathematics: Year 6Strand: Number and AlgebraSubstrand: Fractions and decimalsContent code: ACMNA129Content description:Multiply decimals by whole numbers and perform divisions by non-zero whole numbers where the results are terminating decimals, with and without digital technologies